Almost one year ago, ISIS reportedly threatened Kent State University.
Ohio University alerted students Friday of a threatening social media post allegedly connected to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as ISIS.
But many students might not realize that this time last year a tweet sent from someone claiming to be linked to the terrorist group mentioned another university in Ohio: Kent State University.
In an email sent to the student body Friday, Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said "the post contained no specific threat against any individual but simply referenced Ohio University."
Powers said Tuesday he was unable to share information with students regarding the progress of the investigation, but said OUPD will continue to be as open to the community as it can be.
On Sept. 18, 2014 at the Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop, participants saw a threatening tweet on #ksuethics14, the hashtag used for the workshop.
The tweet included a video of British journalist John Cantlie, an ISIS hostage, and the message “LEND YOUR EARS.”
Associate Professor Jan Leach of the Kent State School of Journalism said she coordinates the workshop every year.
“We have three huge screens set up and one of them is dedicated to the hashtag,” Leach said. “We always trend the day of the workshop. We were trending in the Cleveland area."
The tweet also contained two other trending hashtags, causing Leach and other university officials to believe a “bot,” or an automated account, generated the tweet.
Julie Selby, a senior studying broadcast journalism at Kent State University, said she was in the same building as the workshop the day of the workshop last year.
“People got really nervous,” Selby said. “It was kind of scary because nobody knew what was going on.”
One of the workshop’s speakers that day, Joseph Vealencis, is the director of the Office of Strategic Communication at the National Counterterrorism Center.
However, Leach said the director's presence and the timing of the tweet was seen as coincidental.
A year later, Victoria Buzzard, a OU freshman studying exercise physiology, echoed Selby’s sentiment.
“(The tweet) kinda freaked me out,” Buzzard said. “But what can I do about it?”
In response to the tweet that mentioned OU, OUPD held a meeting Tuesday evening, specifically for international students, to address any questions regarding the investigation.
“In this day and age, we don’t want to alarm people, but we want to be transparent about what we’re doing,” Powers said at the meeting.
OUPD could not be reached for further comment by press time.
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